Seoul's Waterfront Renaissance

Seoul has always been defined by its most valuable environmental assets: its countless waterways, and the mountains that feed them. 

From the start, the capital revolved around Cheonggyecheon and its network of streamlets:

Nowadays, the Han River tells what's North and what's South, but waterways still account for 8.1% of Seoul's land (below in 2010):

After pouring concrete all over the place to tame the powerful Hangang and its tributaries, to stabilize unstable riverbanks, and to prevent recurring floods, the city has reopened its heart to its waterways, rediscovered them as leisure paths and environmental treasures. Following the restoration of Cheonggyecheon, the Hangang Renaissance, and the restoration of neighborhood streamlets, masses of humans, birds, and even fishes have flocked back to Seoul's watersides. Yes, more concrete was often poured in the process, but biomass keeps growing, embankments are often doubled with natural fish nurseries, and significant wetlands have been created.

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Citizens are already very active along these waterways, thanks to all the infrastructure needed by strollers, cyclists, or workout maniacs:

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But water level and street level are seldom seamlessly connected, and for good reasons: flash floods remain a constant threat, and these waterways help the city cope with extreme downpour. On such occasions, riversides must be evacuated immediately. Still, more citizens could spend more leisure time there, particularly when they crave for more free and cool open spaces.

More than a decade after his Hangang Renaissance project, Mayor OH Se-hoon aims at a 'Jicheon Renaissance' leveraging Seoul's 332 km of waterways. Not just with more hardware, but with more content and culture, a better connection to local neighborhoods and markets, More 'emotion', as part of an 'Emotional City' of the future vision.

Starting with 4 pilot projects along three streamlets (Dorimcheon, Jeongneungcheon, and Hongjecheon), with 2 more sites by 2030 (Anyangcheon and Jungnangcheon):

• Hongjecheon will never fulfill its great potential as long as the Naebu Expressway disgraces it (see "Along Hongjecheon, my way or the highway"), and the pilot will focus on two spots: upstream at Hongjimun and Tangchundaeseong, midway at the artificial waterfall near Seodaemun District Office, with a place to have a drink.
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• Dorimcheon is more about the connection to the neighborhood and its businesses, with decks to make the transition and chill out:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Jeongneungcheon will add a cultural layer through a new media art space:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Of course, all this requires water, particularly since the city intends to make these shallow streamlets a bit deeper (from a very thin 10 cm to a more significant 30 cm). So backstage, there's a lot of work to improve water and waste management. 

Today, 18 streamlets including Cheonggyecheon are actually fed with water recycled from the Han River, and climate change has spectacularly dried up the whole nation. Even if I knew Seoul experienced very few precipitations last Winter, I was stunned to see in a recent treck up Bukhansan, how parched soils were. But the only time water streamed by was magical:

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As usual, I guess we'll have more imperfect, odd spaces requiring some improvement in further iterations. But overall, Seoul keeps democratizing access to quality time and nature, even if that's in not so natural spaces.

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Take a walk on the Seoul side

More good news for pedestrians in Seoul: 10 streets will undergo a "road diet" this year, and twice more shall follow every year.

By "road diet", the metropolitan government means slimmer, curvier, healthier streets, like in this example where one traffic lane is turned into sidewalks:

Now if you look at the first 10 streets, some have already great assets as neighborhood connectors, short yet scenic and / or gastronomic walkways, often already lined with trees. But many have little to tell, like the 'apateu' blocks surrounding them. 

Here's the list, starting with my favorite:

• Saemunan-ro-5-gil (Jongno-gu): between Gwanghwamun and Gyeongbokgung stations, the first parallel to the left of Sejong-daero, backstage for the governmental buildings or the Sejong Cultural Center, but centerstage for such great eateries as my beloved Gwanghwamun-jip (yummy gimchi jjigae below). Redefined by the Four Seasons Seoul, it also signals the beginning of the Baekundongcheon diagonal (see "Baekundongcheon / Gwanghwamun-gil - A River Runs Through It"), and I wouldn't be surprised if that diagonal became car-free in the future...

 

• Noksapyeong-daero-26-gil, Yongsan-gu: known for its antique shops, this elbow connects Noksapyeong-daero and Bogwang-ro.
• Seongsuil-ro-10-gil, Seongdong-gu: a treeless diagonal between Seongsuil-ro and Achasan-ro, and one of the old royal hunting trails - you can tell them because they radiate from where the old stone bridge used to cross Cheonggyecheon / Jungnangcheon.
• Dongil-ro, Gwangjin-gu: further to the West, Northeast Seoul's backbone follows Jungnangcheon from Yeongdong Bridge. Seoul starts with the Southern section, more interesting around Jayang-dong, but very challenging because of that ugly bridge landing.
• Gwanak-ro-30-gil, Gwanak-gu: a stretch lined with trees between Gwanak-ro and Kkachisan Park
• Opaesan-ro-3-gil, Seongbuk-gu: not much to see either between Naebu Expressway and Wolgye-ro, but you already have sidewalks and trees.
• Nowon-ro-1ga-gil, Nowon-gu: a lower section of Gongneung-dong around the school
• Guil-ro-10-gil, Guro-gu: between Anyangcheon and the pack of railways south of Guro Station (Line 1), in Guro-dong.
• Yeouidaebang-ro-44-gil, Dongjak-gu: a scenic walk around Daebang-dong Community Center, and along Noryangjin Neighborhood Park
• Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu: maybe the city wants to improve the shopping experience of Gangnamites along the vertical axis between Maebong, Yeoksam, Eonju, Hak-dong, and Apgujeong stations. Or to remind them that they have feet, and that they could, for a change, spare the driver and spoil the Jimmy Choos.

This announcement followed series of updates by the city of its urban plans for 2025 issued last Autumn, including this list of zones preserved from demolition and reconstruction within Sadaemun / the fortress walls (Ikseon-dong also included):

Of course, you first notice the spots that WILL be redeveloped, like the Sajikistan I mentioned recently ("The Yongsan itch and the Sajik balm"). And the extension of semi-protected zones around Seun Sangga (Jugyo-dong, Ojang-dong, and Chungmuro 5-ga prolonging the direct neighborhoods listed in the regeneration project), or along Jong-ro near Jongmyo (e.g. Inui-dong)...

... not to mention the irony of seeing the DDP in an area 'preserved from large-scale redevelopment'.

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Nowon confirmed as Seoul's northeast hub

PARK Won-soon recycled yet another project of the OH Se-hoon administration: turning Nowon into Seoul's northeastern hub. The old concept received a boost last month, when the government accepted to lower the share of expenses to be paid by local authorities from 40 to 25%.

Which means two things:
- the extension of Subway Line 4 from Danggogae to Namyangju, first announced in 2007, will be delivered. I had little doubt about that: it was the soundest and most profitable project among the four laid out two years ago (see "Spectacular extensions of Seoul Subway Lines 4-5-6-7 ?" - April 2010, followed by "Seoul subway updates : gos, no-gos, maybes" - January 2011)
- the heart of Nowon, around Nowon Station itself, will be beefed up as scheduled, but instead of the major air terminal initially planned (see my "Nowon-gu" focus of June 2007), a gigantic complex shall rise, with 40+ storey apartment towers, hotels, and a commercial and convention center aiming at rivaling the COEX Mall

After that, Nowon-gu will finally discard its image of bed town, and extend its already strong influence over Gyeonggi-do neighbors: after Jangam new town (Uijeongbu, Line 7), Namyangju new towns (Line 4) are more likely to feel anchored to this hub within Seoul city limits than to their own local administration. 

For Nowon's future commercial hub, the location has long be selected: Dobong Driver's License test grounds and Seoul Metro train depot occupy three quarters of a huge block next to Nowon Station, and both have been expected to move for years. Four important roads surrounding this massive area:
- East: Dongil-ro, northeast Seoul's backbone, between Nowon and Madeul Stations (Line 7).
- South: Sanggye-ro, between Jungnangcheon and Nowon Station (with subway Line 4 overground)
- West: Dongbu Expressway, along Jungnangcheon
- North: Nowon-ro, in front of Jungang Apt Block 10 and Nowon High School, leading to Sanggye Bridge and Dobong-gu.

The extension of Line 4 also confirms Nowon Station as Northeast Seoul's brightest spot:
- To the West, Dobong Station (Lines 1 and 4) will be even more distanced. Yes, the Uijeongbu axis is bound to grow stronger, and the future Suyu LRT won't be that far, but if Seoul reaches further northwards, it will be through Line 7. For the people living in Jangam new town, even from the other side of Seoul Ring Expressway (# 100), Nowon Station feels already much closer than downtown Uijeongbu.
- Along Line 7, Nowon's closest rival lies far down south, at the intersection with Line 2: Konkuk University Station has been completely revived by the Starcity - Emart complex. Gunja (intersection with Line 5) has some potential, and Taereung may go up should Line 6 be prolonged, but catching up with Nowon won't be that easy.
- The old but vital Line 4 vertical already connects Seoul with southern Gyeonggi-do, carrying people from 5 cities (Siheung, Ansan, Gunpo, Anyang, and Gwacheon) straight into 9 of the capital's 25 districts (Seocho, Dongjak, Yongsan, Jung, Jongno, Seongbuk, Gangbuk, Dobong, Nowon). But if Nowon was the last frontier new town back in the late 1980s, it is now becoming the entry point to Seoul for a new generation of new towns, this time from northeast Gyeonggi-do.

In a diagonal parallel to the Gyeongcheon Line (railway for Chuncheon), the 14.5 km extension from Danggogae will create three stations in the city of Namyangju: Byeollae (Byeollae-dong), Onam (Onam-eup), and Jinjeop (Jinjeop-eup). All three correspond to new towns, not to mention (see reminder) today's terminal itself, Danggogae Station, at the center of the future Sanggye New Town. I bet many inhabitants may feel more like in an extension of Nowon-gu than in a new Namyangju neighborhood: there's no direct railway connection to Namyangju city hall in Geumgok-dong, and Nowon Station with its city hall and attractions is just 1 to 4 stations away.

Sanggye, Danggogae, and Byeollae all lie along Deongneung-ro, an axis already very congested by traffic jams. The only road cutting through Buramsam (in its middle) became an important entry point into northeastern Seoul when the Seoul Ring Expressway was completed: located halfway between Uijeongbu I.C. and Guri I.C., Byeollae I.C. instantly relieved the saturated Toegyewon I.C. gateway. But the road was not dimensioned for that traffic, and turned into a bottleneck.

Construction for the subway shall start in 2015 and end in 2019, but expect more hiccups on the way, starting with the feasibility studies planned during 2013, after the elections.

To be continued.

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You bet

There was an article about lotteries in Korea in Tuesday's Korea JoongAng Daily*.
What struck me was not the boom in bets, a classic in times of crisis, but the picture illustrating the article: I've known this store in Sanggye-dong for 15 years.

It used to be a small convenience store at the Southeastern corner of Sanggye Jugong Apt 10 Danji, between Madeul and Nowon stations, at the intersection of Dong-ro (the vertical backbone East of Jungnangcheon, along subway Line 7) and Nowon-gil / Banghwa-ro. That's a major crossroads surrounded by densely populated appartment blocks (clockwise: Jugong 7, 9, 10, and a medium-sized Daelim complex), but a rather quiet place because of the local urban development model. Like Jamsil, Nowon has been redevelopped during the eighties following a basic scheme: tombstone buildings lined up along a wide highway, with shopping areas concentrated near subway stations, except for small peripheral clusters like this one.

This store also happened to sell Lotto tickets, and one day, one customer won the national grand prize. Then it happened again, and I remember how people started talking about it. The place soon gained a reputation of lucky charm, drawing players from all over the country like a magnet. And a genuine big win epidepic followed, feeding the buzz. Last time I passed by they had already claimed a dozen or so grand prize, including two almost in a row.

Over the past decade, the place has radically changed: most of the space is now reserved for lotto players, who can write down their hopefully winning combos on large tables. Non-lotto sections, reduced to the minimum, propose mostly snacks and side dishes for players.

I don't know how many gazillion wons are spent every week on tickets in this mecca of Korean lotto, but probably too much for such a not so affluent area.

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* "As economy dips, Koreans say 'You never know'" (Korea JoongAng Daily 2011106)

A Dream Bridge to nowhere?

According to DongA Ilbo ("Building a landmark pedestrian bridge" - 20110720), Seoul authorities want to link Apgujeong with Seoul Forest via a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Han river.

Seongsu-dong (Seongdong-gu) and Apgujeong-dong (Gangnam-gu) are already connected through the Seongsu Bridge, but this doomed structure (it collapsed in 1994) was rebuilt at a time when humans and bicycles were not priorities. Hangang riversides have since grown parks and bike lanes, and prolonging the Jungnangcheon riversides to the South makes sense... but the operation looks like yet another gift from City Hall to Gangnam speculators.

Apgujeong marked the triumph of the 'apateu' model: the Park Chung-hee government partly sponsored the moving of part of the country's elite to the newly erected apartment blocks fourty years ago, and all of a sudden the general public, unaware of the trick, reconsidered apartment blocks as a symbol of success. Before, people saw them as soulless dwellings for the masses. The trick also radically changed the image of Gangnam, a land recently claimed over rice paddies that Gangbuk elites despised. After that, all 'nouveaux riches' started to migrate South, and all Seoulites to embrace the 'apateu' system.

Even now, Apgujeong-dong remains the epitome of Gangnam bling. Commoners, who already found it hard to swallow that these blocks had more or less privatized the accesses to Hangang riversides, reacted vehemently when the city authorized the replacement of this old generation of apartments with 50-story-high blocks (the only way owners could expect fat profits from the sale of their already bubble-blown properties). Now this: a KRW 100 bn bridge financed 50% by the city and 50% by the same local residents?

I don't see this "Dream Bridge" being built, unless there's a radical change in Apgujeong-dong redevelopment plans:
- covering Olympic Expressway
- opening the new and improved waterfront to bikes and pedestrians from all sides
- public infrastructures and mixed use of land instead of a high end residential ghetto

More likely, Seoul will find a compromise and ask for big concessions from land owners if they want to grow higher than 30 stories.

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Salgotyi Bridge

Researchers from Hanyang University will dig under the pier and along the piles of Salgotyi Bridge (Salgotyi Dari / 살곶이 다리), hoping to find artifacts from the early Joseon dynasty at the very feet of their own university.

Officially called Cheongok Bridge (Cheongokgyo / 천곡교) today, this most particular structure on the Jungnangcheon links the Northern and Southern halves of Seongdong-gu.

I say "most particular" for three reasons : this bridge is unnecessarily long, drawing a diagonal instead of the shortest cut, it's a rather odd feature in a strange place, and it's a very very old fellow.
Why this odd angle ? Maybe Salgotyi is just pointing towards Bukhansan for good karma. Maybe the diagonal reduces the risks of destruction when the stream grows stronger. After all, it was built after an important junction : here, Cheonggyecheon joins Jungnangcheon, which continues Westwards along Seongsu (now home to Seoul Forest) until it reaches the Han river.

Why the strange atmosphere ? This waterway-crossroad is doubled with and almost hidden by a highway-crossroad, and tripled with a railway-crossroad - most people drive by without noticing it, trying not to miss their exits or connections.
- the Southern "riverside" is completely covered by Dongbu Expressway : eight lanes of heavy traffic along the Jungnangcheon
- to the North, Cheonggyecheon's mouth exposes a few rotten teeth (concrete blocks probably meant to break the current where both streams merge)
- until recently the stream was covered with concrete until the end, but another elevated highway was built, covering this mouth with two gigantic arms : Naebu Expressway reaching for Dongbu Expressway, one two-lane-bridge for each direction.
- the "cheek" East of Cheonggyecheon's mouth (Yongdap-dong) is a vast industrial nightmare : a subway car depot, a water treatment plant
- the Western cheek used to be basically a wasteland : the University's backyard under Sageun-dong-gil
- like a Fu Manchu mustache on this disgracious face, Subway line splits over two bridges : Seongdong Bridge for the junction between Hanyang University Station and Ttukseom Station, Jangan Railway Bridge the Songsu Station - Yongdap Station link

... and like a fragile caterpillar at the feet of giant concrete bridges with their impressive piles, a very narrow and flat bridge stretches its small legs (only one meter above the water). From a distance and given the environment, it looks like a derelict concrete structure, waiting to be removed, but Salgotyi Dari was built with stones in 1483 (14th year of King Seongjong rule). During the XXth century, floods damaged the structure and concrete add-ons, but original piles remain.

This monument is already protected, but excavations could cast a new light in this previously forsaken area. Because believe it or not, if you put aside the two expressways, the situation has dramatically improved in the area :

. First, Cheonggyecheon restoration changed the mouth of the stream, now covered with vegetation particularly on its Eastern cheek... where the water treatment plant will be replaced by a big public park.
. The "teeth" breaking the current under the elevated highway host flocks of ducks and cranes which apparently find plenty of food to fish.
. The wasteland on the Western cheek became Salgotyi Park, a small sports complex for local residents.
. New bicycles lanes are full of bikers who can ride along Cheonggyecheon up to Yongdu-dong (Dongdaemun-gu), and all along Jungnangcheon from Dobong-gu / Nowon-gu to the Hangang bike network.
. Just a few hectometers west of Salgotyi Bridge, riverside grows much wider and greener, and the lane passes at the feet of Eungbong-dong hill, with its pagoda on the top and its beautiful colors in the spring or autumn.
. ...

Of course, the overwhelming feeling remains : the place looks more like a dump than a cultural / environmental hotspot. Because Seoul did the same mistake in the early 2000s as it did thirty years before : covering the city with more highways instead of finding more sustainable ways of commuting people.

More lanes are being added up North on the same Jungnangcheon and that's a shame as Seoul must prepare to reduce the number of cars intra-muros. That's a moral and environmental obligation, but also a demographical inevitability.

Maybe there's a pattern in oblique ways to join mainstream.


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